Commissioner for Human Rights

[13/07/11 09:30] Two years have passed since the human rights defender Natalia Estemirova was murdered. She was abducted on 15 July 2009 near her house in Grozny, Chechnya, pushed into a car by four assailants and driven away. Some hours later her body was found in a forest in Ingushetia. She had been shot in the head and chest. Natalia Estemirova had been a leading member of the human rights organisation Memorial, and was known as a principled and courageous human rights researcher. Her assassination had a chilling effect on civil society activities throughout the Caucasus. I have raised this case repeatedly with authorities in Russia, both on federal and local levels, and been assured that the investigations would be successfully completed in the near future. It is important that no further time is wasted before this crime is solved, that the evidence brought forward is credible and that not only the four assailants but also those who mandated the murder are brought to justice.